Kerr’s father was the president of the American University in Beirut when he was assassinated in what then-President Ronald Reagan called an “act of terrorists.” As a U.S. citizen who spent years in Middle East, Malcolm Kerr dedicated his life to bridging the gap between the Arabic and Western worlds ― a gap that critics have said Trump’s executive action will widen.

“If we’re trying to combat terrorism by banishing people from coming to this country, we’re going against the principles of what our country’s about and creating fear,” Kerr said. “It’s the wrong way to go about it, if anything we could be breeding anger and terror.”

He added that, “I worry in the big picture what this means to the security of the world. It’s going about it completely opposite.”